Zephyr: It's obviously an AU, but I tried to keep certain things remniscent of the canon. For example, Sanaki being the "Empress" of her class was my idea and I tried to justify yandere! Micaiah with her feeling the need to constantly be perfect.
Underdog: Meanwhile, I... went along with it? I dunno, that word generator was pretty freaking scary. Just look at the plot it gave us.
In case it wasn't obvious, this is a collab between UnderdogHero and Spring Zephyr. Happy Valentines Day.
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If only I'd just gone over when he called.
Sanaki's eyes scanned the room, slowly, taking in everything and scrutinizing every suspicous detail. Her eyes lingered on the bed, now bare. The sheets had been taken to the police station for examination, the detectives hoping they could find some clue to who could have killed the boy.
All they'd find is blood, of course. Sothe's blood.
She closed her eyes, sighing heavily as she remembered the night it happened. How she'd ignored his constant calls to focus on homework, how she refused to read his texts because of the fight they'd gotten into earlier that day. If she'd just taken him seriously, this might not have happened. They might have caught her in time.
She opened her eyes again, stepping over the police tape, ignoring the protests of her companion. Volke just sighed and scratched the back of his head, looking around. There was no one in the apartment - Sothe's roommate had been relocated to a new dorm for the duration of the investigation - but he still stood watch, hoping the girl would leave no traces.
.
He looked at his phone, turned pale, then quickly left the room. She watched him, smiling.
Sothe was always so easy to scare. It was actually pretty cute, the way he'd react to the things she's done to keep him with her. No matter how many times he left, Sothe would come back. Always.
"Remember that promise we made when we were children?" Micaiah asked. She tilted her head inquisitively, hair spilling to one side.
"The one where you promised to stop breaking into my room at night, or another one?"
As for Sothe, the tension in his shoulders looked so heavy. Micaiah could practically feel it in her own. His voice was ice and fire – cold and apathetic, hot and passionate. A bundle of contradictions.
"I never did anything you didn't want," Micaiah replied nonchalantly.
Which was true, because he was such an impressionable boy. Prefacing an argument with "you shouldn't be here" wasn't exactly a hard "no". With a little coaxing, a couple of light kisses or a gentle caress, Sothe's reluctance melted like ice under her warm hands.
Even when Micaiah did nothing, he always caved to some unseen pressure sooner or later.
Sothe cheated on tests, because he struggled in school. He lifted pocket change from wallets and purses that had no business being in his hands because his own foster family was too poor to afford food. Which was probably why he didn't live at home anymore, but that was beside the point. And if Micaiah left him alone for a few days – Sothe would've willingly licked her boots to convince her to take him back, complaining of the unfairness and how lonely he was without her.
Even now, he couldn't honestly deny having feelings for her.
"Who were you texting?"
He jumped, glanced down at his phone as if he'd just remembered it was there. The nervous speed with which that ancient, ductaped piece of crap disappeared into his pocket made her grin a little. A perfect, pristine little smile with pale pink lips.
The amusement etched into her face was pure reflex. Everyone expected humble perfection all the damned time, so that was what they received.
"It doesn't matter," Micaiah soothed, at the same time Sanaki raced through her thoughts, like the winds of a storm.
This was taking too long and the last thing she wanted right now was to think about Sanaki, the boyfriend stealer, after everything Micaiah had done for her -
"We promised we would always be together."
"Then you left me during middle school," Sothe grumbled.
"Not because I wanted to! After everyone found out about my mother, what was I supposed to do?"
"I don't know, let me think for myself!"
"You obviously don't know how!" Micaiah snapped back, wincing at the sound of her own voice.
Sothe did more than that, but it was his dorm room. He was the one who had to worry about being caught. But now that she'd begun, Micaiah couldn't stop herself. The emotion that had been buliding up all week, since she'd been dumped for her younger sister – the emotional remnants from eight years ago, was seeping from the cracks in her humble, perfect disguise.
"You stand there and accuse me, but where were you at the time?" she continued, wanting to get one last lash in before she stopped. "Don't try to pin it all on me. If you'd just explained how upset it made you, I would've come back!"
She had come back.
"I would've come back sooner," Micaiah corrected, just in case Sothe was in the mood to nitpick. "Although I guess it doesn't matter..."
"If I'd known you would be this upset about Snacky," Sothe grumbled.
At this point, he was glowering more than frowning. He always frowned, but rarely did he look so angry. Last time she'd seen Sothe with this expression was – damn it, Sanaki. Get out of my head. Why did you have to get everything, including my boyfriend?
"There's a surprise for you in the garage," she huffed finally, turning around. This conversation was not worth the headache.
"Micaiah, wait!"
.
"Sanaki - "
"I've told you before, but I will tell you again," Sanaki cut in, "I'm a veritable genius, and at the top of my class. I wouldn't do anything as foolish as implicating myself... by accident."
She swallowed the lump in her throat again. People had high expectations of her, so it was out of character to become so... so emotional.
"It's not that, it's just – he was always a bit... weird."
Sanaki narrowed her eyes. She'd known there was a reason she hadn't liked Sothe's so-called mentor, and it was suddenly becoming apparent why.
"He respected you," Sanaki pointed out vengefully.
"Can't imagine why..." Volke mumbled audibly. While he was a fairly respectable information broker, he couldn't understand why Sothe seemed so intent on learning from him. He'd run into the kid one day when he was sneaking into an office to collect "material", and the kid stuck to him since. He wasn't even sure how he found his office but, well, that had been the deciding factor, really.
"He told you, didn't he? Told you what she was doing, how scared he was, how no one would listen to him – and you ignored him." Her voice was even but cold, like an Antarctic wind it washed over him and chilled him to the core. No matter what he said, it wouldn't make a difference - what happened, happened. Though he still wasn't convinced.
"In that case, what makes you think he didn't just crack under the pressure? Like he imagined–"
"Imagined his ex-girlfriend breaking into his room and slitting his throat?" Sanaki finished for him, glaring. Volke shook his head.
"Imagined someone doing it. His nerves got the best of him, he picked up a knife, and the scenario wrote itself in his head." He corrected. "Sothe was under a lot of pressure and feeling anxious, and honestly, you can't blame the kid for wanting an out with all the pressure your family has been putting on him!"
Sanaki opened her mouth, but snapped it shut. She couldn't deny that her family hadn't been happy with Sothe – they were under the impression he had used Micaiah to get close to them, then dumped her once he had what he wanted. Which he didn't, he got nothing out of the relationship aside from years of mental abuse and manipulation.
If she had just acted sooner...
A glint in the corner of her eye caught her attention before she could think of an appropriate resonse, and she froze.
Volke noticed this immediately and turned in the direction she was so focused on. When he saw nothing, he looked back to her, noting the mild horror on her face.
"Sanaki, what–"
"Volke." She interrupted. "I think this room is bugged."
This caught his attention, causing him to turn back to the same spot, looking carefully. Not seeing anything out of place, he approached the little bookshelf in the corner of the room, feeling around.
His fingers froze at a small, barely noticable lump in the very corner. Using his barely-trimmed nail to pry it off, he pulled back to examine a tiny, yet fairly high-quality microphone, one he'd come into contact with many times in his line of work.
Sothe couldn't afford something like this. Hell, he had no use for it, not with what Volke was teaching him. So what was it...?
He turned to Sanaki in disbelief, and was met with an accusatory, yet telling look.
"Sanaki, do you know anything about this?"
"N... no, I - "
"I need to take witness testimony from the kids in the neighboring dorm. In that time, you had best rethink this whole 'playing detective' business."
An unspoken threat hung in the air between them, the middle schooler's mouth hanging open like she was devouring it. The police force hadn't even though about checking for bugs. There'd been no reason to, and wedged in the bookcase like it had been – in the back corner, hidden by shadows and the crevice created by a sparse collection of books leaning against one another at various angles – it had been completely overlooked in their preliminary search.
The kid's roommate, who'd been at home visiting his parents on the night of Sothe's death, had also mentioned Sanaki by name during his testimony. The plan had been to continue investigating around the dorms before confronting either sister, but the dots just weren't connecting quite right in Volke's mind.
Sanaki knew about the bug.
She'd seemed pained, but not particularly startled, by the news of Sothe's death. No, she'd recovered far too quickly for that – and then barged her way onto the police-taped crime scene, insisting she conduct her own investigation.
On top of that, why was she so eager to convict her sister as a criminal?
"In fact, why don't you try playing the part of the suspect instead?"
.
Sanaki only sniffled once or twice on the way to the vicinity. She thought the police would allow her to make a phone call first, like in the movies, but the secretary did it for her. That was probably for the best – her voice kept cracking into pitiful little squeaks and whimpers, every time she opened her mouth. On the bright side, she hadn't been required to talk much yet.
On the not so bright side, now that someone other than Volke knew she'd been hanging around the crime scene, it had been made very clear that she was about to get charged with breaking and entering. But what about Volke?
She'd been shaking too much to point the finger at him on the ride over. If he claimed to have found her there, nobody would believe her. Sothe's room wasn't even heavily guarded, since apparently everyone believed it was suicide – Micaiah could have come back and retreived her wire tap at any time, and the only potential evidence she'd left behind would have been lost!
There were no clocks in the interrogation room, and every time Sanaki attempted to compose herself the fear and panic only became worse. At one point, she looked around and noted, rather dully, that the room was not as dark and dreary as it would have been if this were a movie. Volke was right, and she shouldn't have assumed she knew all about detective work after watching a few crime dramas.
After a while, the panic sort of mulled itself away. Sanaki stood up, stretched her legs for a bit, and even asked for a glass of water – the sole window was wide and set firmly in the middle of the wall. All she had to do to be noticed was rap on the glass a few times when an officer walked past. It would've been refreshing under different circumstances.
Being able to swallow without feeling every dry speck of spit sliding down her throat helped. By the time Officer Lucia entered the room, Sanaki was sitting straight again, her hands folded neatly in front of her and her gaze focused and composed. She looked every bit the Empress as she did at school, authorative and in-control.
Officer Lucia was a near reflection of that poise. Her eyes shone with the glint of steel and she wore possibly the most pristine uniform Sanaki had ever seen – not a hair nor a button nor even a wrinkle was out of place. Despite all of that, she had a friendly smile.
Police interrogations were normally carried out with two people – unless the movies lied about that also – but nobody entered the room after Lucia.
"This has certainly been an eventful morning," Lucia offered. Sanaki didn't deign to respond, prompting a continuation, "but I hear you handled it surprisingly well."
Sanaki glared for a moment, considering this.
"Not every child your age can - "
"Let's cut to the point. You want my testimony, do you not? An alibi?"
Lucia's prim smile twitched at the corners a bit, but she folded her hands and leaned back in her chair. Which, Sanaki grumbled internally, looked a lot more comfortable than her own.
"Why not start from the beginning?" Lucia suggested casually.
Perfect! Sanaki preferred it when people didn't waste her time with small talk.
.
"I don't have time to help you," Micaiah replied, every word punctuated by the thud of her boots on the wooden staircase.
As long as her sister and Sothe stayed in the foyer this time, Sanaki could continue eavesdropping. The younger had a textbook in front of her and papers on all sides, and her first thought upon hearing Sothe was failing most of his classes was good, shamefully. She was good at studying and Sothe – well, she hadn't meant to notice Sothe like this, but somehow it kept happening. Micaiah complained that he hadn't bought a new pair of pants in three years, but what Sanaki noticed was the warm amber of his eyes, how soft and fine his hair looked.
"If I don't bring up my grades before the end of the semester, I'll lose my scholarship!"
"I'm busy," Micaiah repeated herself. Instead of stomping her feet on the stairs, this time she heaved an exasperated sigh. "All these club activities, dance practice, volunteering at the animal shelter..."
Sanaki continued the list mentally: sing to the fuzzy forest animals, hypnotize said forest animals into doing chores for me, then buy a new soap box, because my old one is starting to wear out. Something about the silliness of it all made her want to speak up.
"I'm at the top of my class," Sanaki bragged. "I coud help Sothe."
She ducked her head, so the two older kids wouldn't see the smile threatening to stage a jailbreak. These feelings would go away sooner or later.
Even without looking, she could feel Micaiah's scrutinizing gaze on her. "Shouldn't you focus on your own studies?" she asked after a moment.
Sothe probably looked puzzled. He was two years older than Sanaki, after all.
"I'm almost finished," Sanaki lied.
.
"That's nice, but what does this have to do with Sothe's death?"
Sanaki scowled at the blue-haired officer. "I'm getting to that part."
She said start from the beginning, didn't she?
.
It wasn't like she would lose anything from taking a break – the work she was given at her grade was, to be honest, far below her level.
She recalled times when Micaiah was in middle school and fell asleep doing her homework – when she woke, she had no idea it was Sanaki that had completed her worksheets. Though Sanaki wasn't sure she wanted her half-sister to know she was capable of doing her homework at the age of eight. That would have brought nothing but trouble.
But with Sothe, it was much easier.
"So to solve for D, you replace variables X and Y with the corresponding numbers and–"
He followed her example diligently, paying careful attention to everything she said and asking questions when he needed to. He was such a good listener and a quick learner, so she had to wonder...
"Sothe." She said, unfortuntely breaking his concentration. He looked at her quickly, eyes wide. "If you don't mind me asking– well, you're smart. Really smart. But why are you failing your classes?"
He sat there quietly for a moment, biting his lip and glancing around. Noticing his anxiety, she looked around briefly, making sure none of the servants – or worse, Micaiah – were around, before leaning in and whispering.
"There's no one listening. You can tell me anything, Sothe. I'll listen." Unlike Micaiah went unsaid, as she wasn't sure the jab wouldn't somehow make its way back to her somehow...
Sothe put down his pencil and put his hands under the table, rubbing them on his pants and still looking hesitant. He sighed.
"There's something I need to get off my chest." He said quietly. Sanaki nodded, folding her own hands over her lap and straightening her back. Sothe took a second to prepare himself, before looking back to her. "I... don't think it's working out, my thing with Micaiah."
Sanaki bit the inside of her cheek to keep from gasping joyfully, barely managing to keep herself composed while he considered his next words.
"I just feel like, unlike when we first got together, she hasn't been putting in as much effort to keep our relationship stable. She ignores me whenever I ask for her help, never comes to see me during break time, but when she needs something she expects me to drop everything and go to her!" He slapped a hand over his mouth when he realized his pitch was rising slightly, and took a breath. "She's been really irritable and rude lately too, like just the sight of me disgusts her. She's not interested in spending time together, and she makes plans on days she knows I'm free..."
Sanaki nodded, fighting to keep her lips from breaking out into a grin. She knew how serious the situation was – Sothe relied on Micaiah for a lot of things, from tutoring to the emotional support he apparently wasn't getting, and breaking things off with her would cost him more than that.
She could always play it off like she was the one who broke up with him, but everyone knew how attached they were. Chances are, Sothe would still get the short end of the stick, and the next four years of school would be a living hell for him, either because of the teasing from his classmates or the increased harassment from Micaiah's fans. They'd find some way to blame it on him, no matter what excuse Micaiah gave. Especially if Micaiah said something incriminating – which she didn't doubt would happen. She didn't go easy on the last guy that dumped her.
"So... what do you plan to do?" She asked, trying to sound supportive. She watched as his eyes darted around again,
"I don't know. No matter how bad I feel, I know that she'll twist it around somehow to make it seem like I was the one at fault."
"Then why are you still dating her?" Sanaki asked, eyes wide. In spite of herself, that little bubble of enthusiastic curiosity, that need to learn something new, bubbled up from her chest.
"Because... I... She relies on me. She's always saying how... she's not sure what she would do if I weren't around to keep things stable."
As much as Sanaki enjoyed examining people like specimens under a microscope, even she felt something wrong with that. Micaiah's happiness wasn't supposed to be the only one that mattered.
Before she could protest, Sothe continued, "A-anyway, it's not like she does it all of the time."
Sanaki bit her lip, but she had no intention of holding her tongue. "You just said it wasn't working out, and now you're making excuses?" she huffed. "Classic example of victim mentality!"
Surprised, Sothe finally unglued his eyes from the math book he clearly hadn't been reading. Not even Sanaki, the brightest student in her grade, could've managed that feat under this kind of stress. "I'm not – do you really think...?"
"A-and Micaiah..." Sanaki's cheeks were suddenly turning pink. "She... she doesn't understand you like I do."
She turned away sharply, but the implications weren't lost on Sothe. It was an awkward confession, abrasive and well-meaning and childish all at once, although he'd been just as impulsive once upon a time. He wasn't sure how he felt about being lectured on abuse by someone two or three years younger than him, but it was the most honest conversation he'd had in a while.
As soon as Sanaki realized how awful the last two things she'd said must have sounded, especially in conjunction to what they were talking about, her pink face turned to red. "Oh, what am I saying?" Taking a deep breath, she continued in her voice as the class Empress, "If I were to put it in layman's terms – you're the first person I've ever felt this way about."
The only person, if she were being honest.
"I also happen to like you and believe you deserve better. Even if I didn't like you so much – well, I suppose we wouldn't be talking right now, but I'd still believe you deserved better."
.
The last parts were surprisingly difficult to recount to Lucia. When Sanaki recounted that part of the tale, she paraphrased or entirely omitted sections more often than not. Even though he was dead, she couldn't help but think about his pride – that Sothe wouldn't like it if he knew she were spilling some of his darkest secrets to the world like this.
He had understood what she was saying, and that was the important part. So that was the only part Sanaki made an effort to keep intact.
Lucia's mouth was twisted in a frown. "What you're saying is – you believe Micaiah had a motive for murder?"
"Jealousy," Sanaki agreed, nodding firmly.
.
They didn't start dating immediately, but Sothe's increased enthusiasm over their tutoring sessions didn't go unnoticed either. Weeks passed. Sothe grew more comfortable around her, started telling lame jokes and the occasional funny ones. Sometimes he even brought gifts. On occasion, he did both.
"I brought a snacky for Snacky," Sothe laughed. He said it at just the wrong moment, right as Micaiah appeared around the corner.
Sanaki's cheeks puffed out indignantly. "Candy? Do you see me as nothing more than a child?"
Something heavy thudded to the floor. Sanaki and Sothe both jumped on reflex – Sothe craning his neck over his shoulder to see where Micaiah had thrown her bookbag – just as the girl in question stormed past. She snatched the little candy-filled bag without so much as a glance at its contents, but her fingers dug into the plastic like she was trying to crush it.
For a second, Sanaki almost moped. Regardless of what she'd said, she actually had wanted those colorful, delicious little candies.
"Sothe, darling," Micaiah cooed. Or tried to, anyway – what Sanaki heard sounded more like a furious hiss. "It's not our anniversary yet."
"Micaiah, those aren't - "
"I suppose I have to get you an early present now, huh? Anything in particular you'd like?"
"There's no need, Micaiah."
Micaiah spun around, ruffling his hair with her free hand. Her usual serene smile was back, the cracks in her pleasant facade restored to normal. Sanaki blinked in disbelief, thinking perhaps – maybe she was so jealous of her goody two shoes sister, she'd only imagined Micaiah losing her temper.
"So humble! I've always loved that about you, darling."
Underneath her hand, Sothe scowled. Micaiah's fingers threaded through his hair – his pretty, soft-looking hair – just as Sanaki had always wanted to try, but neither of them looked pleased about it. "That's not what I mean, Micaiah."
He proceed to recite some of the things he'd told Sanaki since they'd begun their tutoring sessions, with such brevity that it shocked Sanaki herself. Worst of all, however, was when Sothe brought her name into it:
"I've talked about this with Snacky a couple of times, and... she agrees."
It was true that she'd said most of those things, but Sanaki still wasn't prepared for the iron ball that dropped in her gut. Despite having meant every word of it, she hadn't stopped to think about what Micaiah's reaction would be. She was unprepared for the way Micaiah's eyes snapped onto her, the way her entire body went slack with betrayal.
"How could you, Sanaki?"
"I - "
Micaiah didn't give her a chance to explain. Anyone could conclude that these two couldn't have been happy together, based on psychological evidence, but Micaiah simply wasn't interested in hearing it.
"We don't need you butting in! Our relationship is fine!"
"Are you kidding me? We're not 'fine'!"
That stupid bag of candy had sparked the beginning of a very long argument, and the whole time Sanaki could only slump in her chair and wish she were anywhere else.
.
She wasn't sure if that was the point they'd started dating or not. According to Micaiah, Sothe had already been cheating on her with her younger sister. The mere thought of Sothe having an emotional attachment to anyone other than herself seemed to bother her, and if Sothe hadn't texted her the day after the fight, Sanaki had no idea when she would've found the courage to speak to him again.
"I asked Sothe if he felt guilty," Sanaki mumbled, even though this had nothing to do with evidence or Sothe's death. It just felt like something she had to get off her chest.
"What did he say?" Lucia asked.
Her voice was compassionate and filled with understanding. As much as Sanaki regretted her answer, she told it honestly, "He said 'no'."
"You think Micaiah killed him over that?"
"People do worse things over scorned love all of the time. I watch - "
"A lot of crime and court dramas?" Lucia asked with a small, knowing smile. Sanaki blushed, turning away with a huff. She wasn't sure if Lucia was being sympathetic and taking her seriously, or if she was just playing the "good cop", but she would need to keep her guard up anyway. After what happened wtih Volke – who she thought she could trust on account of his attachment to Sothe – she wasn't sure who she could talk to anymore.
"N-no, I've just seen a lot of disputes at school over someone cheating or being dumped... really, middle school is horrible."
Lucia's smile said she didn't believe a word of it, but Sanaki didn't want to try convincing her – going into too much detail would just make her look more awkward.
"Anyway," She said, trying to divert the conversation. "Yes, it is my belief that my sister killed Sothe–"
She cut off for a second there, pushing down the feeling that began to well up at the contant mention of his death.
"–for that reason."
Lucia nodded, jotting down some notes on the clipboard she'd brought with her. Sanaki was almost tempted to ask if she could see what she'd written so far, but she knew it wasn't a good time. Perhaps if she wasn't the one being interrogated...
"So," Lucia said, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Would you like to tell me more about how this escalated? If what you say is true, then any information you can give us will aid in our investigation."
Sanaki – instead of feeling grateful – felt her eyes narrow.
"Now you're going to take me seriously? Or is this just an attempt at getting me to lower my guard so you can fish for a 'confession'?"
At that, Lucia's smile turned to a frown. Sanaki felt herself go stiff at the sharp glare she was met with.
"I'm serious, Sanaki." She said. "While your involvement in this situation is indeed suspicious, I don't want to rule out the possibility that someone else was involved. By all means, Micaiah is as much a suspect as you are, even though the others refuse to say it."
She leaned back in her seat, one hand over the other on her clipboard.
"Unlike Micaiah, you didn't have direct access to Sothe's dorm room, whereas we're aware that his roommate was quite the fan. Whether Sothe broke up with her or not, she had every opportunity to enter the room. I won't deny your reasoning either – I've also seen my fair share of crimes commited over love or obsession, sometimes both. They're terrifying emotions, ones we shouldn't make light of."
"We will, of course, compare your recounting of these events with Micaiah's own story. If possible, we would also like to view your message logs, in case Sothe's own might have been erased, to help with validate your side."
A beat passed before Lucia leaned back in again, smiling gentle. Sanaki's body immediately relaxed, seeing the honesty and kindness in her eyes.
"And you don't have to worry, we won't tell Micaiah anything you'd said here. So please, tell me everything."
.
Underdog: And that's the end of part one! The story was getting way longer than we would have been able to finish on time, so...
Zephyr: Please wait patiently for part two. When was the last time I got to sleep?